U.S. Massacre of ϟϟ-Pz.Gren.Reg. 38 (Götz von Berlichingen)

Zenz Kaiser as SS-Sturmbannführer

Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS POWs

According to Professor and historian Antonio J. Muñoz about two hundred Waffen-SS soldiers were captured near Nürnberg by men of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division, known as the Rainbow Division, and subsequently massacred on April 19-20 1945. The victims belonged to the 1st Battalion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 38 of the German-Latin 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen. The fate of these prisoners, including the Reich veteran SS-Obersturmbannführer Vinzenz Kaiser and his adjutant SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Kukula, had been shrouded in mystery for many years. Eyewitnesses to what happened to these men were not forthcoming. Shortly after the war, some citizens of Nürnberg directed Red Cross officials to what turned out to be a mass grave which yielded some two hundred bodies, all in Waffen-SS uniforms. Nothing was done to identify these men or how they came to be there until 1976, when the remains of one of the corpses was positively identified as that of Franz Kukula, the commander of 1.Battalion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 38. Further autopsies on the other bodies soon followed, showing that many of the men in that grave had been beaten to death with blunt instruments, possibly rifle butts. Most had been shot at very close range, suggesting that a massacre had taken place. The presumed massacre of men from Götz von Berlichingen executed in April 1945 by the American Rainbow Division have never been officially investigated and perpetrators have never faced justice. Nevertheless, most high-ranking German officers captured by U.S. forces were subject to interrogation by U.S. Army's intelligence-gathering Ritchie Boys. They were all German-speakers, and importantly they knew German mentality and behavior, better than most American-born soldiers. References: American historian Antonio J. Muñoz and British military historian Gordon Williamson. Left image: the then SS-Sturmbannführer Vinzenz Kaiser pictured while engaged in combat with Soviet forces during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. Awards among others: the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the German Cross in Gold, the Infantry Assault Badge and no less than four Single-Handed Tank Destruction Badges. Kaiser also appears on the front cover of Waffen-SS Knights and Their Battles: The Waffen-SS Knight’s Cross Holders Vol. 2 by Irish author Peter Mooney. Credit: Johannes Dorn. c. Bundesarchiv. Right image showing a small group of LW and Waffen-SS men who surrendered their strongpoint to the 143rd Infantry of the U.S. 36th ID when ammunition ran out in Rohrwiller in Feb. 1945. The Kampfgruppe was an ad hoc combined arms formation. Unfortunately, none of the men have been ID'ed so far. (TDA).